11.5.06

Bob Marley didn't believe in death. It is part of Rastafari teaching that there is no dying, only living, and Marley held that to be true. For Marley, at least, death was just the beginning.It may seem, to the casual top-40 listener, that reggae music is a limited genre, a sidestream to the mainstream, a musical form that saw its glory days, its better days, in the days of Bob Marley.Listen closer.The sound of reggae is everywhere. Bob Marley's greatest hits album, Legend is still on the Billboard charts, more than 20 years after its release. Artists that he influenced are all over MTV, in various forms and in various genres. There are too many to list them all. Some draw from his sound: Hasidic roots-reggae rapper Matisyahu. The Fugees -- Wyclef has covered Marley songs, and fellow Fugee Lauryn Hill has covered Marley songs and given birth to Marley grandkids. Dancehall star Sean Paul has produced two best-selling CDs. And Marley's son Damian scored a recent chart hit with his song "Welcome to Jamrock." Others draw from his general spirit: Gwen Stefani; Julian Casablancas, the lead singer of the Strokes, a band thatsometimes borrows reggae rhythms, is an avowed Marley fan. U2 has covered Marley's songs in concert and lead singer Bono inducted him into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.In the past other musicians have been influenced by Marley, including Eric Clapton, who cvered his song "I Shot the Sheriff"; Stevie Wonder, who wrote "Master Blaster" as a tribute to the reggae king; and the now-defunct ska-reggae-punk band Sublime, who re-recorded Marley's song "Jailhouse". In the future there will no doubt be more Marley acolytes. "full article...http://www.popmatters.com/books/features/060511-bobmarley.shtml